What we're up against....

I know I just posted like 20 minutes ago, but I just came across something I think you all should read. We talk a lot about how your role as a council member has an impact on not only your council, but also the entire sorority and fraternity community. What you do as council members has the potential to affect the experiences of all community members, which is a lot of responsibility, but also a great opportunity.

I was looking at some things from my alma mater (Miami) and I came across an article published in their "Greek newsletter", published for and by members of the community and delivered to chapter facilities and sorority suites. This idea has a lot of potential for sorority and fraternity leaders to provide insight and inspiration to their fellow community members, write personal testimonials about experiences in the community, and enlighten new members on what is ahead of them. I was really excited about the concept, then I read what they had to say, and my heart sunk a little bit.... This is an excerpt from one of their front page articles "Raise a Glass"....

Being Greek is more than just wearing letters, it is about being understood. The bonds we are forming and the memories we make each week embody brotherhood and sisterhood. The spring semester in the Greek community is the best time of year; pledges celebrate their new bids and begin to learn about their chapters while upperclassmen become nostalgic as they become bigs and grandbigs. I hope you are all beginning to realize why these years are referred to as, “The Time of Your Life.”

It has a good beginning, right? Keep reading....

When else do you live with your friends, have only moderate responsibility and party like there is no tomorrow. This semester I propose a toast, “Let’s raise a glass to being Greek, this is truly the journey of a lifetime. Here’s to teaching young fratstars that Ed Hardy is not acceptable attire, here’s to showing them how to pull all the stops and sing boy band songs for serenades. Here’s to the cuties that hold the signs during POTH because they can’t dance, here’s to getting Belltower To Go after the bars close. Here’s to the seniors living up their last semesters and here’s to Fratlinburg, Tennessee. Live dangerously and stay thirsty my friends”

In case you want to know more about the community, the students provided some insight by writing articles like: "Reason #65 I love Miami: FRAT"; "Bro-Mackin': Why Rush Sucks"; "Booze, Tunes, and Hotties"; and "The Sh*t your SOUL should have told you" (which addresses things that first years should be told at orientation including- the art of the dance floor make out, the purpose of owning a 'fracket', a jacket that you don't mind losing when you spend the night at a fraternity house, reasons to invest in a jersey, and how to get into bars underage)..... I realize much of this is a joke. But I read this and can't help but wonder, is it really a surprise why people think our organizations are irrelevant? If this what community members are saying ABOUT THEMSELVES, what are other people supposed to think?

Don't get me wrong, the paper had a lot of really great stuff too about the importance of recruitment, memories from being a new member, and passing the torch of leadership- but all of that gets lost when the word FRAT appears a hundred times on the front page alone. I think this says a lot about the sorority and fraternity community nationwide.... the wonderful things we do and the values we stand for are completely lost and overlooked because the stereotypical, negative things that we might find entertaining and ridiculous are what make the headlines, even in papers published by our own members.

I know you are not Miami. And I know you don't have such a paper, but if is going on within a community like ours, not far from where we are, I can't help but think about what we are up against. We want to change the world and make farternities and sororities relevant again, where do we start? How deep does this issue go?

Just some food for thought.